>> and you think that by closing loopholes and deductions for the well-to-do, somehow you will not end up picking up the tab, than governor romney's plan may work for you. >> you're entitled to your own airplane and house, but not to your own facts. i' not going to cut education funding. >> a night of testy exchanges and harsh criticism as mitt romney and president obama try to show why they should win in november. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to news4 today for this thursday. we're going to take a look outside at 5:00 a.m. 43 degrees. the humidity that came through the region made it feel like summer. >> 73. >> what did i say? >> 43. >> no, i'm sorry. 73, that's a big difference. >> it is going to be that cold by monday, though. >> what? >> indeed. it's going to be 30 degrees colder in the mornings by monday. big change on the way between

now and then. ahead of another weak front coming our way. we have some passing light showers now moving out of the carolinas into virginia, the district, and maryland, parts of east and west virginia advancing north and east. a closer view of our storm 4 team radar. the wipers are running on 95 now between the beltway down to fredericksburg, getting some more moderate showers there in the dark green and yellows. farther west in loudoun county and prince william and culpepper and around blue ridge, getting just a few sprinkles there. and a few sprinkles across the potomac into frederick and washington counties, panhandle of west virginia. and out there where the rain is falling, it's in the 60s. but closer to washington, maybe just a few sprinkles and it's around 70 degrees now. hour by hour today, have the umbrella handy. by 6:00 a.m., still a few passing showers. by mid morning, should be all done. mid afternoon near 80 and lower humidity moving in with lots of

sunshine, a delightful afternoon coming up. i'm back in ten minutes with another hometown forecast. first traffic now with danella. >> good morning. checking out the roadways for you. your commute not so bad in our area. let's take a look as you're making your way past 295. heading northbound, and as you continue to 295, and even vw parkway, no issues to report, no accidents. heading to 395, earlier this morning, northbound at duke. road work set up, it's gone. north and southbound nice and clear, as you continue your commute past the pentagon and heading to the 14th street bridge, no issues. here's a live look, nice and clear. accident-free, construction-free. over to you. today the presidential candidates will be back on the campaign trail a day after their first debate. president obama holding a rally in denver before heading to wisconsin. he'll visit the university of wisconsin campus in madison. mitt romney will campaign alongside his running mate paul

ryan in virginia today. they will appear together in fisherville in central virginia. both candidates are looking for a boost from last night's debate. they went after each other on several issues, including mitt romney's tax plan. >> now, governor romney's proposal, that he has been promoting for 18 months, calls for a $5 trillion tax cut on top of $2 trillion of additional spending for our military. and he is saying that he is going to pay for it by closing loopholes and deductions. the problem is that he's been asked over 100 times how you would close those deductions and loopholes and he hasn't been able to identify them. >> first of all, i don't have a $5 trillion tax cut. i don't have a tax cut of the scale that you're talking about. my view is that we ought to provide tax relief to people in the middle class, but i'm not going to reduce the share of tax paid by high income people. high income people are doing just fine in this economy. they'll do fine whether you're president or i am. the people who are having the

hard time right now are middle income americans. >> romney also warned that president obama's plan to let tax cuts for the wealthy expire would raise taxes on the small businesses that create hundreds of thousands of jobs. another comment mitt romney made has become a twitter phenomenon. it all started when the republican presidential nominee detailed some of the spending cuts he'd make as president. >> i'm sorry, jim, i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. i like pbs. i love big bird. i like you, too, but i'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from china to pay for. that's number one. >> well, that has sparked several big bird twitter accounts and twit pics. one user has used the handle fired big bird and tweeted this picture. it already has more than 23,000 followers. the race is tightening in two of the bat ground states, according to the latest nbc news "wall street journal" maris poll. in virginia, the president leads

mitt romney by 2%. that's within the margin of error. he led there by 4% last month. the race is even tighter in florida. president obama leads his republican rival by just 1%. and we'll have much more on last night's debate throughout the morning. nbc news senior political editor mark murray will join us live later this morning to break down what the candidates needed to accomplish and whether they were successful. >> let's go to melissa live at the news4 news desk. >> we've just learned first lady michelle obama will travel to loudoun county this coming tuesday, october 9th for a campaign event. as soon as we get additional information on her visit, we'll pass that along. this highlights the importance of northern virginia in the race for the presidency. tomorrow, president obama will make a trip to fairfax county. he'll be speaking at george mason university. right now, separate searches for missing teens, one in maryland. montgomery county police looking for this young man, 15-year-old

derionte hebron, last seen at the wheaton community center monday around 2:00 in the afternoon. he's 5'8", about 110 pounds. his family says he likes to spend time at the glenmon shopping center. if you have any information on where he might be, please contact montgomery county plees. >> the second search is going ob on in fairfax county. brian glen was lasteen dropping off his brother. a short time later, the car was found at face park about a mile and a half away. police and bloodhounds are combing the area but so far have found nothing. inside the car was a receipt from a nearby dunkin' donuts. his father says that is unusual and leads him to believe something happened to his son. >> so all this, to us, is saying that he's still here somewhere. we've got to find him. he hasn't run away because he hasn't tried to run away. >> and as of now, police say there are no indications of foul play. it is 5:06 right now.

getting to the bottom of what went wrong in libya and how further attacks can be prevented. also ahead, the fallout for a police officer caught losing his cool on camera. plus, how nasa's mars rover is taking social media to new heights. a look a

who knew? nasa's mars rover is apparently into social media. curiosity checked in at the gale crater. even left a tip there. curiosity reported that mars is cold, dry, and rocky. extra moisturizer and sturdy shoes would be a good idea if you are considering. plus oxygen for those of you who breathe. this is all coming from curiosity. that's what it says. this was the first check-in ever on mars, in case you were wondering about that. astronaut douglas willock became the first person to check in from space last year, he checked in from the first international space station. this is the first one from mars. >> curiosity is just one check-in away from being the may yr of mars. i always knew the extra moisturizer comes in handy.

let's check out our atmospre this morning. some clouds still out there. 73 degrees outside our studios. tom, what's in store? >> by contrast, planet earth is wet here this morning in our regions. we have some showers moving in ahead of a weak front across the carolinas into virginia, maryland, and east and west virginia. hometown forecast, oakton and fairfax county, still a bit wet by 7:00 a.m., a few passing sprinkles and near 70. by early afternoon, the sun breaking out. the whole region will have lower humidity moving in during the afternoon with increasing sunshine and a high near 80. a look at big changes on the way for the weekend and into next week. that's in ten minutes. a look at traffic now with da n -- danella. >> let's take a live look at 66 right now.

checking things out here, no accidents to report. no major delays. back over to you. >> we like the way that sounds. a new feature for facebook, but you better be willing to pay for it if you want to use it. also ahead, the airline that's helping you flee the

losing his cool. [ harry umlaut ] i speak european you know. [ sally umlaut ] uh-huh.

take this fascinating muller yogurt. frut up. means "fruit up." creamy yogurt down below. delectable, layer of fruity, moussey, uppiness on top. frut up. as the europeans say. in their language. wow. you really are bilingual. [ male announcer ] muller. the european for yummy. at the news4 live desk with breaking news. a car bomb in western baghdad has killed five people and wounded another 13. the parked car bomb went off early this morning in an upscale neighborhood, just missing a coop voi convoy of employees. a south carolina man will spend even more time in prison for attacking his lawyer after his sentencing.

lamarcus williamson was just sentenced to 15 years in jail when he punched his public defender in the mouth. williamson was convicted of robbing and attacking a college student. he was charged with criminal contempt and given an additional six months in prison for attacking his lawyer. a philadelphia police officer will be fired after his caught on camera punching a woman in the face during an arrest. the video shows officer standing around a car and someone throwing something at the cops. lieutenant jonathan joe see in the white shirt, grabs a woman and punches her in the face before arresting her. the woman was charged with disorderly conduct but police say that will be dropped. secretary of state hillary clinton is calling for a full and transparent investigation into the consulate attack in benghazi, libya. an independent panel will examine security concerns and whether proper procedures were followed. the attack killed u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. some republicans suggested the state department denied repeated requests from u.s. diplomats for

extra security at the mission. and italian business owner protesting the country's economic policies has now come down from the ledge on st. peter's basilica. the man who owns a beach front concession stand in northern italy climbed on the ledge in vet can city on tuesday and stayed there for 24 hours. he finally agreed to come down after italy's tourism minister promised to meet with a group of beach concession owners about new rules that impact their businesses. a school bus driver is in the hospital after passing out and causing this crash. the family who lived at the house was not home at time. five children between 5 and 8 years old were on the bus and not hurt. police have not released the driver's medical condition. the bus crashed in the garage but still caused structural damage. you hear it every election. people will move out of the country if the other guy wins. jetblue is offering some help moving people out of the u.s. the airline is offering a

thousand round trip flights for customers who support the losing candidate. all they have to do is vote for their candidate. the winners will have a temporary escape to mexico or the caribbean, but will have to pay for their own hotel. the nationals will be playing at home a lot during the playoffs. that's thanks to an impressive end to the season. ryan zimmerman and michael morris both homered to lift the nats to a 5-1 win over the phillies. that gives them the best record in baseball and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. the nationals' first playoff game will be sunday in either atlanta or st. louis depending on who wins the wild card game tomorrow. d.c. mayor vincent gray stepping in to make sure you don't have to pay more for your ride to and from the ballpark. the d.c. council announced a dollar surcharge that would begin two hours bore each home playoff game and last until 4:00 a.m. the morning. but they quickly rescinded that fee after a call from mayor

vincent gray who says the charge was "ill advised." d.c. police put hundreds of officers on standby to prepare for extra crowds at nats stadium. they say their regular duties and neighborhood patrols will not be affects. >> the winner's going to be teddy! after six years and 539 tries, teddy is finally victorious. and it couldn't come on a better day. the final game of the regular season. before the race, teddy was given a pair of shiny yellow underarmor shoes. maybe that helped. that seemed to do the trick along with the philly fake fanatic. it was the first time since the race started in 2006 that teddy has won. >> good job, teddy. >> he was lagging in the start. we weren't sure. >> he came out of the gate slow and late and was way behind. glad that the fake fanatic was there. >> i want to see what happens

for the playoff games. >> if he'll keep winning? >> they need to get him a bigger head and some different clothes and just jazz him up for the playoffs. >> you don't like the sneaks? >> that was a good touch. >> the nationals may be off until sunday, but the orioles will be in action tomorrow and their season will be on the line. the o's will take on the texas rangers. the orioles lost, giving the a.l. east title to the yankees. they will play the yankees in the american league division series if they win tomorrow. lose and their season is over. the detroit tigers' miguel cabrera has just accomplished something that has not been done in 45 years. he won the triple crown. cabrera finished the regular season as the american league leader in home runs, rbi, and batting average. karl yastrzemski of the red sox was the last player to win the triple crown, that was in 1967. >> what an incredible

accomplishment. >> pretty impressive. this is a great baseball season. >> it is. all right. coming up on 5:51 now on this thursday morning, and some showers and clouds out there -- it is thursday, right? >> it is thursday. tom kierein here with more on our forecast. >> and we still have the humidity around from yesterday, too, but it's going to be changing during the afternoon. between now and then, yes, we have a weak front that's going to bring in that lower humidity, triggering some showers now from the carolinas across virginia, and right into the district, now getting just a few light sprinkles. these areas in green as well as montgomery, prince george's. there's one light to moderate shower there right on the prince george's and charles county line near indian head and that's moving up toward the beltway in prince george's county over the next ten minutes or so. farther west, a few scattered light sprinkles into west virginia. right now, temperatures are mild, and it is muggy. we are right around 70, and the nearby suburbs around the beltway in prince george's, arlington, fairfax, montgomery

county. farther north and farther west, it's in the 60s. as the day progresses, storm team 4 four-day forecast will have some increasing sunshine during the afternoon with lower humidity moving in and highs around 80 by mid afternoon. and then overnight tonight, clear 60s by midnight. 50s by dawn tomorrow. so quite a change moving in. and a delightful one at that. a wonderful autumn day on friday. and we'll have afternoon highs, take the day off near 80 degrees. on saturday morning near 60 with some sunshine starting off the day, and clouding up in the afternoon. highs reaching the mid 70s. might get a passing shower late saturday afternoon into saturday evening. and then a greater chance of some cool showers on sunday with highs only in the 50s to around 60. so a big change on the way. chilly starts in the mornings. monday, tuesday, wednesday. afternoon highs 60s to near 70

by midweek. i'm back in ten minutes. here's danella now. >> friday looks like the perfect sick day. tweet me if you need excuses. traveling to 70 southbound, at 109 starting to see some delays, but it's not terrible. you're pretty good as you head out of frederick, but getting closer to 109, you are just a bit on the brakes in that area. further down in the rockville area, you can see damp roadway, but as far as accidents and major delays, not seeing any on i-270. your travel lanes are open as you make your way northbound as well as southbound. if you're taking the roads, no reported delays. facebook can now help you spread your latest update to all of your friends for a price. the social network is offering a new feature that allows users to pay to make their posts more visible. the new promote option, expected to cost about $7 apiece, will make posts higher up on your friends' news feeds. facebook says this new feature will be useful for everything from engagements to garage sale

announcements. facebook's founder and ceo mark zuckerberg will make his first u.s. tv appearance today since taking the company public. zuckerberg sat down for an interview last week with matt lauer that will air today. they discuss zuckerberg's daily routine, his recent wedding and facebook's struggling stock. you can catch the exclusive interview with mark zuckerberg later on "today." a british team is closer to building a car they hope will break the sound barrier and smash the land speed record. the team tested a rocket engine yesterday that they hope will help push the car to a thousand miles per our. the rocket will be used along with a fighter jet engine to create the same amount of horsepower as 95 formula one cars. they hope to run the car in 2014 in south africa and break the previous land speed record of 763 miles per hour. that is fast. there's a prince william county woman sharing her close encounter with the largest fish in the world. sheryl mcwilliams is a

firefighter and dive instructor. she was exploring a ship wreck when the whale shark came right up to her. you see it there. mcwilliams says she was not scared and even reached up to touch the shark. >> it's like almost seeing a school bus under water. it's 25 feet long and it's just enormous. you're just awe-struck. >> she thought oh, let me touch that. really? mcwilliams says sharks typically get a bad rap and many are endangered. she says she hopes this video will help improve the shark's image. >> it also helps that whale sharks don't eat meat, because if it did, you might be swimming the other direction. >> want to keep that finger to yourself. don't reach out and touch things well, you may think that you are the redskins' biggest fan. >> but do you have a yard like this one? check it out. clavan gillespie has transformed his front yard into a giant tribute to the team. he says he grew up watching the

likes of joe theismann and decided to use his skills as a landscaper to honor the team. every year, he says he freshens up his lawn with a few hundred dollars worth of mulch. the yard has survived everything from wind to rain and he says it's pretty easy to maintain. >> and it looks pretty good. a lot of people when they try to do things like that to their yards, it gets kind of gaudy. but that looks almost like a normal yard. >> i wonder what the neighbors think. > 5:26 is our time. coming up this morning, making their case with voters. the issues mitt romney and president obama tried to hammer home in their first debate. plus, growing problem that is leaving the famous reflecting pool empty just weeks after it opened. a line of showers moving a line of showers moving through our region.e.

the middle class, who move our country forward. work hard. raise families. and keep america strong. but mitt romney's budget plan will hurt the middle class. raising taxes on the average family by up to $2000 dollars. while giving a tax break of $250,000 dollars to multi-millionaires. doesn't mitt romney understand, we can't rebuild america...by tearing down the middle class. priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising.

and now, from washington's leading news station, this is news4 today. looking at the stories making headlines, right now at 5:29, policy issues, not zingers, were the focus of the first presidential debate. a maryland man fighting for his life after police say he was the target of a brutal beating and robbery. and d.c.'s taxi commission is backing away from a plan to charge you more to take a cab to

a nats game. we'll have much more on those stories throughout the morning. good morning to you. >> welcome back to news4 today on this thursday, october 4th. a live look at the nation's capital. we can see the capital dome this morning, a far cry from what we had this time yesterday. a bit of a warm start for a lot of us as well right now. >> that's right. let's check in with tom kierein. >> you guys were at nats park yesterday afternoon. >> yeah, it was a great game. it was pretty steamy. especially for october. >> not hot, but -- >> humid. >> it helped to have the clouds. keep from roasting in the sun. it stayed humid overnight. we have a front that's going to rescue us from high humidity pushing in. as it does push in, it's squeezing out some moisture and giving us some passing showers. right now from the carolinas into virginia, east and west virginia and much of maryland and the district getting a few sprinkles right now. these areas in green are just sprinkles. one little area in yellow is a moderate shower along interstate

270. and farther south getting one maybe light to moderate shower near alexandria, that's passing into prince george's county. farther west, a few sprinkles into northern virginia. it's a mild morning, 0 south and east of the metro area and the area in yellow there. in if areas in greens, it's in the 60s. we are getting those passing showers. maybe an umbrella needed still by 7:00, but after that we'll dry out. sun out this afternoon with lower humidity. highs around 80 by mid afternoon. sunset, 6:45. hometown forecast comes up in ten minutes along with another team at storm team radar. here's traffic. >> things are running without issue right now if you're making your commute in the district. taking a look at the american legion bridge. you're clear here. volume is increasing on the outer loop as well as the inner loop, but as far as accidents, you're clear to the wilson bridge. president obama and mitt

romney returned to the campaign trail today. both candidates are hoping last night's first presidential debate gives them momentum going forward less than five weeks before election day. nbc's tracy potts is live in denver where the candidates squared off last night. tracy, good morning. >> reporter: mitt romney went into this somewhat the underdog according to the polls. the whole first half of this debate was about the economy. and they ran over several segments talking about taxes, mitt romney's tax plan, $5 trillion tax breaks, mostly for the wealthy, the president kept saying over and over and mitt romney stopped him and said you're totally mischaracterizing my plan, that's not what i'm proposing at all. they also talked about medicare they talked about wall street reform, and whether or not that was done properly. but the strongest exchange was about health care and jobs, and as mitt romney put it, why the president spent so much time in the middle of a recession focusing on getting his health

law passed. >> i just don't know how the president could have come into office facing 23 million people out of work, rising unemployment, an economic crisis at the kitchen table, and spend his energy and passion for two years fighting for obama care instead of fighting for jobs for the american people. >> we did work on this, alongside working on jobs, because this is part of making sure that middle class families are secure in this country. >> reporter: a couple of the big instant overnight polls that we've seen, undecided voters and registered voters say mitt romney won this debate. they've got two more coming up, the first in a couple of weeks. and some local governors are weighing in on last night's debate as well. maryland governor martin o'malley told msnbc's lawrence o'donnell that romney was not specific enough on the issues that matter most to undecided voters. >> i think what mitt romney really needed tonight was a big game changer.

he needed the address the observation that he hasn't had any specification for all of these great promises. $5 trillion in cuts but it won't add to the deaf sismt truficit. trust me, i'll tell you later. eat cake, lose weight. >> bob mcdonnell released a statement that said mitt romney's debate performance crystallized the choice voters face in november. when he is president romney's plan for a stronger middle class will deliver more jobs and more take home pay. president obama will campaign tomorrow in northern virginia. he is set to visit george mason university. hundreds of gmu students watched last night's debate. they say they were grading the candidates on what they had to say as well as how they said it. >> i'm not getting a sense of obama as the commander in chief. >> and romney? >> romney is really like laying it down and he's really being

very detailed for once. >> my mind was already made up, but it definitely -- i became a lot more informed. >> i like when they're talking about the health care stuff. and about the middle class, because i'm middle class, so a lot of that stuff affects me. >> both candidates have been campaigning on college campuses this year. we'll have much more on last night's debate throughout the morning for you. mark murray will join us later this morning to break down what the candidates needed to accomplish and whether they were actually successful. a new poll shows that tim kaine is taking a lead in virginia's hotly contested senate race. the survey by nbc news, "the wall street journal" and maris shows tim kaine leading republican george allen 49% to 44%, that's among likely voters. it breaks a deadlock the two candidates were in just three weeks ago when each received 46% of support in the same poll. tim kaine's camp believes they are getting some help from the president, who has also seen a bump in the state in recent weeks. a maryland man is in

critical condition this morning after he was brutally attacked and left for dead. police say the 72-year-old man was walking to the mega latino market a few blocks from his home tuesday night. the next morning, guzman's son found him beaten and robbed, lying unconscious if a parking lot. he suffered a severe brain injury in the attack. >> i'm very sad. we are all in our family very sad. we still can't believe that this happened. we're just hoping that he's going to really recover completely, and so he can -- so he'll be able to tell us at least if he knows who did this to him. >> montgomery county police handed out fliers in the community in hopes of catching his attacker. the national park per vis is working to try to solve an algae problem with the reflecting pool. crews drained the pool yesterday. when the pool is refilled, it will have different chemicals in it to try and prevent the algae from regrowing. the reflecting pool was closed

for two years as part of a $34 million renovation project. your time right now is 5:36. take a look at your tv screen. can you really say no to these faces? how you can help one of these dogs get a second chance at a good home. plus, trying to pick the perfect baby name. the names you may want to avoid depending on where you live. you might want to grab your umbrella as you head out the door. we'll look at what impact the showers will have on your afternoon. [ male announcer ] for the dreamers...

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"and what do you do?" "oh, i sell insurance like no one else." "oh, that's nice." "thank you." now, that's progressive. call or click today. welcome back. most newborn girls in maryland, virginia, and d.c. ended up with the name sophia. that's according to a new list by the social security administration. it breaks down the most popular names in 2011 by state. mason topped the list in maryland for a boy. william ranked first in virginia. and in the district, in west virginia, madison was number one for boys and isabella was most popular for girls. all lovely names. >> yeah, strong names, too. you want your kid to have a nice powerful name. set them up well. >> okay. thomas is a good strong name, too. >> it certainly is. time for weather and traffic. meteorologist tom kierein with the latest. >> number two in d.c. was uen.

[ laughter ] >> yeah. >> and good morning. as we start off, you'll need an umbrella. we have these passing showers with us off and on for another couple of hours, just a few light showers. still a few sprinkles and near 70. by the afternoon, some sunshine breaking out, upper 70s to near 80. now a check on your traffic with danella, to be followed by my forecast for the rest of the week and the weekend coming up in ten minutes. >> we'll see you then. over to the rails. a minor delay, brunswick east, just six minutes. i-95 northbound, delays start prior to stafford, and pretty slow as you make your way to quantico. 73 degrees. still to come, the actions a local daycare is taking after a mistake that left a toddler wandering alone in a city park. new developments

a daycare center in d.c. faces disciplinary action after a toddler was left behind at a playground. two nannies found the boy with no shoes at livingston park. a park attendant called police. the boy was supposed to be back at the friendship children's sent aerofcenter a few blocks a. the center realized the 2-year-old was missing when the boy's father came to pick him up an hour later. other residents called this incident upsetting. >> it's your worst nightmare to think about your child being in someone else's care and being left behind. but at the same time, i'm sure it was an honest mistake. >> the boy was not hurt. the daycare said it disciplined the teacher in charge of watching the child. district officials have launched an investigation.

right now, two separate searches for missing teens. police are looking for this 15-year-old boy of rockville. he was last seen at the wheaton community center around monday at 2:00 in the afternoon. family members say that he likes to spend time at the glenmont shopping center. if you have any information about his whereabouts, please contact police. the second search is going on in fairfax, virginia, where another teen went missing on monday. 17-year-old brian glen was last seen dropping off his brother at wt woodson high school in fairfax. a short time later his car was found at face park about a mile and a half away. police and bloodhounds are combing the area, but so far have found nothing. inside the car was a receipt from a nearby dunkin' donuts. his father says that is unusual and leads him to believe something happened to his son. >> so all of this, to us, is saying that he's still here somewhere. we've got to find him. he hasn't run away because he hasn't tried to run away. >> as of now, police say there

are no indications of foul play. in the coming days, we're likely going to hear more cases linked to a deadly meningitis outbraechb outbreak. 26 people have gotten sick in maryland and virginia, four have died. all got steroid injections mostly for back pain. a pharmacy in massachusetts was the supplier and has since closed. health officials are trying to track down hundreds of other people who also got the injections shipped by the same company. experts say the meningitis is not contagious. as the area reflects on the tenth anniversary of the d.c. sniper attacks, there will be a vigil tonight. it will be at 6:30 in gaithersburg. all are welcome to attend. the white house now urging cuba to let a local government

contractor it's holding see his personal doctor. the state department says alan gross must be allowed to see a doctor because of concerns he might have cancer. an american radiologist looked at records cuba sent him of a mass. cuban doctors say it's nothing serious but that radiologist says the mass should be presumed to be cancerous unless proven otherwise. gross is cserving a 15-year sentence for providing internet equipment. defenders of the colorado shooting suspect are accusing prosecutors of violating gag orders. the defense team says his updated mug shot was improperly leaked to the media. they also argue details of a notebook were also leaked. his defense team says government prosecutors deliberately leaked both of those items to the media. the judge presiding over the trial will hold a hearing about the possible leaks on october 11th. a new york fall judge ruled iran, the taliban and al qaeda must pay a massive fine for

their roles in the september 11 attacks. the judge says the $6 billion fine is mostly symbolic but will hopefully help provide relief for some of the victim's families. iran has repeatedly denied any connection to the attacks or al qaeda. d.c. police need your help finding the guy who robbed a payless shoe store. take a look at this video. the man walk sbed into that sto gave the employee there a note and then pulled out a gun. the worker quickly started handing money over from the register. d.c. police offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. another sexual assault in fairfax county and police are wondering if the recent rash of attacks are connected. the latest incident happened tuesday night on hibling avenue. a 15-year-old girl says a man grabbed her from behind and assaulted her. three similar attacks were reported in the same area and all the victims were teenaged girls. maryland's governor is taking aims at anti-gambling ads

that he says are all about protecting west virginia casinos. martin o'malley told reporters yesterday the ads are "a bunch of west virginia casino hooey." he also took issue with suggestions that gambling proceeds won't go to education. o'malley called that ludicrous and pointed to his administration's record spending on schools. this morning a group frustrated with pepco wants to replace the power company. there was a meeting in silver spring. the group suggested a public utility operated by the county. many have complained of pepco's ability to restore service and keep power on. the meeting came after a state task force recommended companies like pepco to add a monthly surcharge to pay for upgrades. nearly two dozen dogs rescued from a puppy mill could be ready for adoption pretty soon here.

the dogs were picked up in south carolina. police say they were among 200 animals living in deplorable conditions. many of them have issues like eye infections or skin irritations, even some socialization problems. medical and behavior teams are working to improve their conditions now. some of these dogs could be ready for adoption in the next few weeks. >> give them a good home, will you? >> definitely need that for sure. time for weather and traffic. still sticky out there. >> when you walk your dog, you may need an umbrella this morning, as we've had a few passing light sprinkles. it hasn't reduced visibility much. there's a live view of capitol hill from alexandria. right now, 73 with a few sprinkles at reagan national airport. the air is soft and yielding this morning, as a front is beginning to push in, it's triggering these showers from the carolinas all the way into virginia, up into pennsylvania. right now closer in, storm 4

team radar showing sprinkles in montgomery, fairfax, prince george's counties. farther west, a few scattered sprinkles into eastern west virginia. temperatures are mild. all this area in yellow in the 70s. that includes the metro area and points south and east. points west and north, that rain has been lingering a little bit longer. have an umbrella handy for another couple of hours and after that, we'll dry out. by the next few minutes and 7:00 a.m., it's still going to be in the upper 60s, lower 70s. but by noontime, ought to get a little sun breaking out. we'll be in the low to mid 70s by your lunch hour. when you're heading home from work and school, we'll be up around 80 degrees. you'll notice the humidity will be dropping. and then, storm team 4 four-day forecast showing some clearing tonight and a chilly start to the morning on friday in the 50s, and afternoon highs near 80. a delightful autumn day tomorrow with low humidity. on saturday, near 60 in the

morning with some sunshine. by mid afternoon, the mid 70s with increasing clouds. there is a small chance of a late afternoon or evening shower on saturday, but a likelihood of passing showers and cooler weather sunday, then drying out and getting chilly, first part of next week. i'll return in ten minutes with another look at storm team 4 radar. a look at traffic now. >> right now i'm checking breaking news in germantown. if you're traveling westbound germantown road, just at the ramp for i-270 southbound, a crash there is blocking all of the westbound lanes. one vehicle is -- it looked to be two vehicles involves. another car that's horizontally in the road. here's what's on the scene. police are on the scene. all of these lanes are blocked. you are starting the see a delay as you make your way westbound on germantown road. if you are exiting from i-270, you cannot make a right and go westbound, but look, your delays are growing in this area. i'm back in ten minutes with another update.

i'm going to keep watching this for you, let you know when the lanes reopen. aaron, over to you. coming up on 5:54 now. american airlines is blaming a mechanical problem for seats coming loose in mid flight. the carrier inspected 48 of its planes with similar seats and all are back in service. in a statement, airline officials blamed the problem with the tracks that the seatings sit on and a locking mechanic niche. the faa is still conducting its own investigation. struggling cell phone company t-mobile will merge with another small company in hopes of challenging larger cell phone providers. t-mobile announced it will merge with metro pcs communications. the new company will keep the t-mobile name and have about 42 million subscribers. this company will still be in fourth place by a wide margin. the merger will give t-mobile more space on the airwaves and wireless broadband connections. ge is recalling more than

60,000 front loading washers because of a possible injury hazard. ge says the washer basket could separate and break a piece of the top panel, which then could be dangerous for users. there haven't been any reports of injuries because of the broken piece, it affects models sold between july 2008 and august 2011 and model numbers wpdh-8800, 8900 and 8910. you can call ge appliances at 888-641-9739 to schedule a free repair. you can now make sure everyone notices your facebook updates, at least if you're willing to fork over a little cash. there's a bug there. sorry about that. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, aaron. facebook has long said it's free and always will be. but that's unless you want more of your friends to see what you have to say. the social media giant is rolling out a feature that lets users pay to promote their post

just like advertisers do. the service has been tested in new zealand, and gradually introduced in 20 other countries. facebook says promoting a post such as announcing a garage sale or an engagement will bump it up higher in your friends' news feed. facebook hasn't set a definitive price, but some people could pay $7 per update. and gas prices typically fall after labor day, but if you live on the east or west coast, you haven't seen those declines just yet. drivers in california paid $4.23 a gallon wednesday. 45 cents higher than the national average. why prices in the northeast are at or near highs for the year. so what's driving prices higher? you have refinery and pipeline problems, which have cut into gas supplies on the coast, driving up prices in states that usually have some of the highest prices in the country anyway. so no relief at the pump just yet. >> thank you.

a louisiana man now has his high school class ring 40 years later. >> turns out someone very close to him had it all this time. gayle guthro lost the ring while out on a beach with friends in 1972. another man who went to the same school years earlier found the ring, had every intention of finding the owner, but never took the time to do it. >> i took it home, put it in a jewelry box and basically forgot about it for 40 years. and it traveled around the country with me in different jobs and went overseas, and came back to lake charles with me about 1990. >> giles recently returned to his old neighborhood and connected the ring with its rightful owner. the reunion four decades in the making. how about that? >> glad he got it back. ahead, what you may soon be able to buy at red box. and reaction to the first crucial presidential debate. a humid morning to start. it is 73 degrees out there at

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